Dexamethasone and Robotic-assisted Hysterectomy

Summary

Robotic-assisted hysterectomy is an alternative to laparoscopic surgery as part of a minimal invasive regimen. Several treatment strategies are followed to improve the overall outcome and minimize surgical stress. Glucocorticoids provide significant analgesic and antiemetic effects but its role in a fast-track, multi-modal setting is not settled when discharge is planned within 24-36 hours. This study will evaluate in a randomized trial the effect of a single dose of 24 mg dexamethasone on women undergoing robotic-assisted hysterectomy with regard to surgical stress measured by c-reactive protein as primary outcome and, further, other stress markers like white blood cells. The postoperative recovery will be registered in validated charts and questionnaires for pain and analgesic use, quality of recovery, incontinence, sexual and work life. Furthermore, in a sub-analysis, transcriptional profiling will be applied to explore, which parts of the innate and cellular immune system is activated to explore the mechanisms of surgical stress response. The hypothesis is that women undergoing robotic hysterectomy would benefit from peroperative glucocorticoid treatment on important life qualities like pain, fatigue, freedom of medications and resuming work and sexual activities. Further, future adjuvant peroperative regimens may be able to target the stress response in a more appropriate way

Timeline

Start

2022-06-01

Primary completion

2024-02-06

Completion

2024-02-06

Publications

• Background Lunn TH, Kristensen BB, Andersen LO, Husted H, Otte KS, Gaarn-Larsen L, Kehlet H. Effect of high-dose preoperative methylprednisolone on pain and recovery after total knee arthroplasty: a randomized, placebo-controlled trial. Br J Anaesth. 2011 Feb;106(2):230-8. doi: 10.1093/bja/aeq333. Epub 2010 Dec 3.
• Background De Oliveira GS Jr, Almeida MD, Benzon HT, McCarthy RJ. Perioperative single dose systemic dexamethasone for postoperative pain: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Anesthesiology. 2011 Sep;115(3):575-88. doi: 10.1097/ALN.0b013e31822a24c2.
• Background Jokela RM, Ahonen JV, Tallgren MK, Marjakangas PC, Korttila KT. The effective analgesic dose of dexamethasone after laparoscopic hysterectomy. Anesth Analg. 2009 Aug;109(2):607-15. doi: 10.1213/ane.0b013e3181ac0f5c.
• Background Steinthorsdottir KJ, Kehlet H, Aasvang EK. Surgical stress response and the potential role of preoperative glucocorticoids on post-anesthesia care unit recovery. Minerva Anestesiol. 2017 Dec;83(12):1324-1331. doi: 10.23736/S0375-9393.17.11878-X. Epub 2017 Jun 12.
• Background Lirk P, Thiry J, Bonnet MP, Joshi GP, Bonnet F; PROSPECT Working Group. Pain management after laparoscopic hysterectomy: systematic review of literature and PROSPECT recommendations. Reg Anesth Pain Med. 2019 Apr;44(4):425-436. doi: 10.1136/rapm-2018-100024. Epub 2019 Feb 3.
• Background Wijk L, Nilsson K, Ljungqvist O. Metabolic and inflammatory responses and subsequent recovery in robotic versus abdominal hysterectomy: A randomised controlled study. Clin Nutr. 2018 Feb;37(1):99-106. doi: 10.1016/j.clnu.2016.12.015. Epub 2016 Dec 23.
• Kaiser K, Karstensen SH, Petersen SR, Nielsen KA, Valorenzos AV, Strom T, Gogenur I, Balsevicius L, Lauszus FF. The effect of dexamethasone on inflammatory markers of surgical stress: a randomized trial in robotic hysterectomy. BMC Surg. 2026 Jun 3. doi: 10.1186/s12893-026-03664-y. Online ahead of print.

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